There are about 30.7 million small businesses in the U.S. today. Creating over 1.5 million jobs annually and comprising more than 60 percent of new jobs created, the sector still faces plenty of challenges along the way. Nonetheless, with the advances in technology, small business owners can withstand these hurdles.
Small business owners know that the keys to business growth are hard work, dedication, and innovation. Though traditional business strategies are proven to help businesses survive, in this day and age, embracing technology is a must.
If you are a traditional small business owner struggling with how to infuse technology in running your company, check out these tips:
Productivity
To increase the productivity of your company, you may opt to use time tracking software. This tool allows you to map out time spent on doing certain tasks and by whom. With this analysis, it becomes much easier for your business to determine accountability and improve the production process.
By developing a more efficient email management process, it becomes easier for your company to streamline communication between employees. Thus, important messages would be disseminated and received in an instant.
Financials
Digitizing the financial management of your business has a lot of advantages. With an online invoicing service, you can cut the cost of collection payments for customers. Also, by creating shared digital files with your accountant, the bookkeeping process becomes less tedious for everyone.
Furthermore, one of the major struggles of small businesses is keeping track of their financial records. Plenty succumbs within 5 years of operation due to mismanagement of money. But by using online budget tracking, you help your company stay on top of its game.
Marketing
Your company’s marketing is another business aspect that needs to embrace technological advances. Plus, with a great digital presence, it is much easier for your business to get the lowest rate offered by a trusted mortgage company to finance your future projects and expansions.
-
Analyze the Effectiveness of Company Website
Nowadays, most consumers, especially younger ones, expect you to have a digital presence. Particularly, they expect your small business to have a website. Having a business website not only makes your company appear more legitimate and trustworthy, but it also makes it easier for customers to find you.
-
Maximizing Social Media Presence
Social media is not only an avenue to meet new people and connect with old friends. Businesses of all size and shape can benefit from these social networking sites as well. Make your business feel more “human” by posting relevant posts on your page and interacting with customers regarding their queries and concerns.
Collaboration and Learning
Team collaboration and learning is essential for the growth of any business. Forget about boardroom seminars and training since it can be boring. And since telecommuting is a thing these days, opt to conduct webinars or web conferences instead.
Apart from email, opt for team messaging software, such as Slack, for quicker communication.
Customer Service
Customer service is another aspect of your business that should not be overlooked. No matter how good your product or service is, if your customer relationship is on the low-end, customers will not consider doing repeat business with you.
To remedy this, make it easy for customers to reach you by providing an omnichannel line of communication. That way, it would be easy for them to reach you, regardless if it is via call, live chat, or email.
Telecommuting
As mentioned, since telecommuting is the new office trend, embrace flexible work set up by creating a mobile office. This fundamentally means sharing with your employees the company files and data through cloud storage. Opt as well for a virtual phone number. That way, even when you are in another part of the world.
While transitioning to a more digitized system of running your small business can be tedious, rest assured that the benefits outweigh the momentary consequences.
